This invention relates to a hoist mechanism intended primarily, but not only, for use when a disabled person's manual or motor driven wheelchair or scooter is to be loaded into, or unloaded from, the load carrying space of an estate type vehicle or people carrier for example.
Motor driven wheelchairs and scooters are much too heavy to be lifted manually, and frequently need to be loaded into, or unloaded from, the vehicle in which they are transported. Manually operated wheelchairs are of much lesser weight but may be more than an elderly or unfit person can lift with ease into, or from, a motor vehicle. It is, therefore, vitally important that such a hoist mechanism is completely reliable and easy to use. It is also advantageous if any necessary adjustments to such a hoist mechanism, when transferring it for use to another suitable vehicle, are able to be made relatively easily.
The kind of hoist with which the invention is concerned includes an upstanding pivot post which is to be secured within and to one side of the load carrying space of a vehicle, and a lifting arm pivotally connected at a lower end of said pivot post, an actuator member being, at one end, pivotally connected at or near the upper end of said pivot post and at its other end pivotally connected to an intermediate point along the length of the lifting arm, the arrangement being such that, in use, as the working length of the actuator is reduced the lifting arm is raised, and as the working length of the actuator is increased the lifting arm is lowered.